This restaurant has a cozy atmosphere and notably friendly staff. The beef tacos are finger-lickin’ good but not at all greasy—like our abuelita used to make. The green chile is delectable with just the right amount of spicy goodness. Devour a sopaipilla with honey. We bet you can't eat just one.

Specializing in 100 percent Kona coffee from the Kona region in Hawaiian, Bad Ass Coffee serves up some of the best lattes and cold coffee drinks in town. They even offer breakfast and lunch to pair with your bad ass brew.

Besides having the Best Pizza, according to past Best of Burque Restaurants polls, Dion's also has a wonderful selection of salads (particularly the Greek or any of the “gourmet” salads with fresh greens) and sandwiches (the pastrami is especially good). The pizza is made fresh and you can see them rolling and tossing the dough. Dine in or order takeout.

Lupe’s Antojitos is installed very humbly in a strip mall in Bernalillo, a setting that belies the authentic and mouth-watering dishes inside. The Central Mexican menu includes three types of molcajetes, a specialty of Mexico City that presents an entire meal served in a stone mortar. Lamb barbacoa is cooked for hours until it barely clings to the bone, its drippings cooked into a brothy consommé. There are several caldos that could bring the dead back to life, including a chicken soup rivaling mom’s. And for you marineros, there’s even excellent ceviche and fried, whole tilapia.

Pizza 9, from the former owner of Chicago Beef, slings dough at multiple locations across town. It’s not deep-dish, but the puffed up, buttery crust will warm Midwestern hearts, as will the Fire Eater pie—a monument to capsaicin, it scathes taste buds with pepperoni, jalapeños, green chile and hot giardiniera relish. With gluten-free crust options, it’s a perfect spot for groups with opposing dietary needs, and you can have it all delivered right to your front door!

Not only do these people serve thick, meaty bacon, dreamy globs of queso and hot, buttery biscuits—because that would most certainly be enough on its own—but The Range Café in Bernalillo also happens to keep things interesting at night. Step into their Lizard Rodeo Lounge for free live music three or four nights a week, a full-service bar, nice atmosphere and fine BLT. Thank you, Range people.

It’s in the heart of New Mexico but completely south of the border in spirit. If the phone cards, paletas and corrido CDs don't give it away, the green tomatillo salsa should. On weekends Ruby's turns the dining service up a notch, serving tamales and menudo. Though spiced simply, the barbacoa is rich, soft and full of complexity. For 10 bucks you get a pound of meat plus an assortment of salsas, chopped onions and cilantro, grated cabbage and lime wedges. Pints of red and tomatillo green are sold in tied-off baggies for $1.25 each. The order comes with a stack of fresh corn tortillas, but consider buying a kilo more for $2.25. With the proper reinforcements, that pound of meat will multiply into a lot of juicy tacos.